Over the last couple of weeks several states that had started on their path back to reopening and ending the COVID-19 lockdowns in stages/phases have found their confirmed infection counts increasing. In some cases this has been an exponential increase that has put pressure back on our healthcare system and limited or even exhausted ICU bed capacity. An increase of some kind appeared to be likely as people started coming out of quarantine and were around each other more. However between some states moving ahead more quickly than others despite their case counts not being ideal for such measures, the politicizing and fighting that has erupted from states/counties/cities suggesting (and even requiring in some cases) masks be worn along with the wave of angst and anger in our society not only about the response to this virus and it’s social impact but also the issues of equality in our country has made things get really crazy really quick. Some states are slowing their return to normalcy progress while others are actually imposing new restrictions, reversing course from the previous few weeks where they were pushing to reopen regardless of the concerns being voiced by medical experts and some community leaders. We will have to see how things look in another week or two but between the nice weather, the lockdown restrictions being softened and folks eagerness to rush back to their “old” lives has set us up for a near perfect storm it appears for this virus to start making it’s comeback before we really ever reached the end of the “first wave”.
Be safe out there and please do what you can to limit the spread of this virus, if not for your sake, then for the sake of others who are at potential risk around you. Good luck out there! – Tom S.
Month: June 2020
Coming Out Of Lockdown… An Ongoing Saga!
I haven’t had a chance to post any rants or ramblings about all the fucked up shit happening in our country right now. There is so much going on that is well beyond normal for my weird shit-o-meter that I haven’t really wanted to go down this rabbit hole until I had enough time to put some actual thoughts together. For today I figured I’d start with the current status of the COVID-19 virus, what we are seeing, what we are doing and what it possibly could end up meaning for us. I do intend to follow-up with an additional post in the next day or two touching on the current unrest and protests in our country as this is an important topic we all need to be involved in discussing so we can work toward a better answer than what the status quo has been for too long (this goes for all parties involved, including law enforcement, but that is for a later discussion).
The COVID-19 lockdowns are starting to lift in parts of the country. Depending on which state you are in and what is happening with the virus in that region dictates which phase of the reopening your city/county/state is in. While it’s great to start seeing some restaurants, bars and other stores reopen the damage done to the economy has been pretty massive and will take a long time for most businesses that do survive to recover. That of course is only for those businesses that are able to reopen and make a go of it in the reality of these new times. There are a lot of businesses that with the current restrictions can’t re-open, or those that could re-open but due to the restrictions on capacity and available services they can provide it wouldn’t be profitable for them so they have to choose to still be closed, or in the worst cases those businesses that can’t re-open because the damage has already been done and is too severe for the survival of the business. I hope that I am wrong but I fear a good chunk of small business will be gone after this coronavirus fiasco and may never be able to come back. These are the business owners and employees I feel most for at the moment as finding a job in this economy and period of time is incredibly difficult (I unfortunately just found out that I will be losing my job at end of this year due to IBM restructuring and downsizing so I definitely share similar feelings as those who have already been affected… it’s a nice “thank you” from IBM after 13yrs of service… but that is for another tirade at another time).
It’s been interesting listening to the virus response info I’ve been hearing from my employer as well as friends who work for different employers and also what I’ve been able to find online from different companies in IT and other industries. For many companies it sounds like even by end of this year they are aiming for only 50% at best of the office staff being back in the office for work each day due to how the recovery phasing rules are working in each state and how each company is handling it’s work from home capabilities as well as what the in office work environment and whatever possible liabilities (both health-wise and legal) are present. This is quite a difference from the early days of the pandemic response when companies were initially telling employees they’d have the option of working from home until the end of that current month, March. Since then it seems like each week the forecast for when and how many employees are returning to work changes depending on what new information has come out regarding the infection/mortality rate along with any other important virus related news. If anything good comes from all of this it may be that companies return to expanding their work from home policies and programs so that more employees have the option of working from home during part or all of their shifts each week.
I am still looking forward to hitting a bar once they’ve opened up in my area. I even am looking forward to going to the Portland,OR IndyCar race in September, provided it isn’t cancelled or becomes a spectator-less event. Like nearly everyone else I too am chomping at the bit to get back to even a taste of what used to be normal for us. That all said I still support taking a cautious approach to help prevent infection and protect those who are most vulnerable in our communities. It seems pretty clear to me that we will have to learn to live with this virus, at least for the few year near term, while a vaccine is produced to help and try to stamp this virus out from becoming a yearly instance like the flu currently is.
Nintendo Switch – Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order – Thoughts So Far…
It’s been nearly a decade since the last Marvel Ultimate Alliance (Ultimate Alliance 2) game released. The wait appears to have been worth it with what I have seen so far from Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3! The platform shift from the original Wii (the platform that both the original Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Ultimate Alliance 2 games were released on) is a big one going from SD to HD graphics in the latest installment, not to mention the change back from motion controls and the help of some extra horsepower from this generation of console CPU’s. With all that you see happening in just the opening levels the extra horsepower is definitely being put to use. The game has been very responsive in single player mode along with multiplayer on the same console mode (co-op console). I did experience some game lag in multiplayer online mode (playing co-op online with a friend) however I can’t confirm if this was due to the game doing more than the Switch CPU could handle or if it was network lag related instead. This is also the first release since the Marvel movies hit the big screen so some changes have obviously been made since the first two games. For example Nick Fury now looks and sounds like Nick Fury from the movies along with several other characters from the Avengers now resembling their onscreen versions. I’m putting a more detailed review post together and will go further in depth on some of the changes I’ve seen so far in the game. I must say the game play has yet to disappoint though. Also the expansion pack DLC looks pretty cool for after you’ve completed playing through the main story line (although it appears you have access to the first of the three DLC content stories via the Menu Select option from the Main Menu after completing the initial main story line levels where the first Shield Menu access point is unlocked). Even though you have access to this and the new Gauntlet Mode it brings with it I haven’t yet played around with this mode yet so I will have to update with more about it once I’ve had a chance to check it out myself. I will have more to share on this amazing game very soon. – Tom S.
Command & Conquer / Red Alert Remastered Update #2: It’s Alive!
I must say I can’t think of a better birthday present from EA than for the C&C/RA Remastered Collection to release near my birthday! I spent a good part of this weekend playing the game and I must say it was well worth the wait. I’m working up a quick review of how things look and feel launching and starting to play the game. However a couple of things I will note now is that the graphics look amazing! You can switch between standard and HD graphics in the game (by pressing space bar) to see the difference in real time. The remastered cut scenes definitely look better than the original graphics do at high resolution although you have to remember they weren’t the greatest looking cut scenes to begin with so don’t expect everything to look real life all of a sudden.
Honestly the game play is near identical to the original. There are options to change up how controls and different aspect of the game function but it was easy to set everything to Classic (minus the graphics of course) and jump right in and play like it was the mid-90’s again.
I haven’t played Red Alert much yet but when I do my next update here I will have more info to include about how that game is looking and playing as well. One other cool addition is the Map Editor being included (however it wasn’t wanting to work properly when I initially launched it…) so you can create your own maps in both C&C and RA! More info to come soon but I will end this post with the words I was waiting a long time to hear until Friday morning….. “Welcome Back, Commander”! – Tom S.
Command & Conquer / Red Alert Remastered: Update
I can’t wait until Friday! Are we there yet?!? Yesterday the preload process began for the new Command & Conquer / Red Alert Remastered release. So of course I immediately got that started. Now that the game is installed I want to play it damn it! Unfortunately the game still doesn’t technically release until Friday so I have to wait until then to get welcomed back as the commander by EVA and get a taste of what has been the most anticipated game in years, at least for me anyway!
I still haven’t heard if any of the old hacks/mods will work with the Remastered version or if there will be new hacks/mods available instead. Once I hear more I will post an update with that info here as well as on my Command & Conquer Gaming Zone website. Of course I will also be sharing my feedback about how the game looks/feels/plays along with any other observations I end up having! Please post your feedback and experiences with the game in the comments as well. I will definitely be posting more about the game as the week goes on and have a 4 day weekend starting Friday, so I promise there will be plenty of information to share as I rack up the hours of game play over my birthday weekend! – Tom S.